John roy stark



I I. n. STARK. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND MAGNETO. APPLICATION FILEDNOV. l4, I918.

1,359,235, Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

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J. R. STARK.

INTERNAL comausnou ENGINE AND MAGNETO.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. H, 1918- 1,359,285.

/ u v m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ROY STARK, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO WEBSTER ELECTRICCOMPANY, OF RAGINE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AND MAGNETO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

Application and November 14, 1918. Serial No. 262,483.

To all whom. it may concern..- 7

Be itknown that I, JOHN RoY STARK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Racine, in the county of Racine and State of WVisconsin,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inInternal-Combustion Engines and Magnetos, of which the following is afull, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates" to internal combustion enginesand magnetostherefor, and is especially concerned with the provision of magnetowhich can be economlcall manufactured, to be used in connection withsmall engines now generally employed for operating washing machines,pumps, feed cutters, and other apparatus requiring but a small amount ofpower. These engines are of comparatively cheap construction, and it hasbeen practically the universal custom to supply thecurrent for theignition system by meansof' batteries, for the reason that magnetos ofthe usual construction are too expensive to be employed with suchengines.

The objects of my invention are: D

(1) To provide an internal combustion engine with a magneto which can beeconomically manufactured.

scribed which can be secured to the frame of an internal combustion eninc and driven from a movable part of sai engine by very simple drivingconnections.

(4') To provide an internal combustion engine comprising a crank casehaving a bearing in one side thereof, a crank shaft journaled in saidbearing, a cover for the side of said crank case 0 posite said bearing,the cover being rovide with an opening, a magneto secured to saidcoverand having its armature shaft extending through said opening, and meansformin drivmg connections between-said crank s aft and armature shaft,these driving connections'bcing such that the cover and 'magneto can beremoved from the crank caseas' a unitary structure.

(5) To provide a. magnetocomprisi'ng a supporting member haying a boretherein, a

body member rotatably supported by said supporting member, an armaturejournaled in said body member, a permanent magnet secured to said bodymember and having its poles dis osed on opposite sides of the arma ture,an means permitting the body member to be adjusted in said supportingmemher to either advance or retard the spark. And

(6) To provide a magneto comprising a novel form of armature whichpermits the ignition current to be taken from the armature by verysimple means. Q

Other objects will appear as the description progresses, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which:

F lgure 1 is a longitudinal section through an engine equipped with myimproved ma neto.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of my improved ma neto.

fig. 3 is an elevation of the end of the magneto shown in Fig. 2, withthe insulating caps removed from both the armature and the body member.

Fig. 4 is acentral longitudinal section through my improved magneto. And

Figs. 5, 6' and 7 are transverse sections taken upon the lines 5'5, 6-6,and 7-7 respectivel of Fig. i 4.

In the rawings, similar reference characters refer to similar parts.

My invention relates in particular to that type of internal combustionengine which comprises a crank case having but a sin is hearing, formedon one side thereof, or supporting the crank shaft. This construction isemployed in engines of the type referred to above, on account of thecheapness of this structure. I have accordingly lllIlS trated myinvention in connection with an engine of this type and do not claim anyinvention in the details of this engine except as these details enterinto the novel combination set forth in certain of the claims ap endedhereto.

eferring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, wherein I have illustrated in aconventional manner a two-cycle engine of the type referred to, thereference character 10 indicates the crank case of this engine, whichforms the compression chamber in a wellknown manner. This crank case isprovided at one side with a removable member 11,

elongated bearing 12 in which is journaled the crank shaft 13. The innerend of the crank shaft 13 is provided with a crank disk 14, carrying theusual crank pin 15. A pitman 16 connects the crank pin with the piston17 in the usual well-known manner.

a The side of the crank case opposite the bearing 12 is provided with acover 18 having a central opening 19, which is substantially concentricwith the crank shaft 13. This cover is held in place by means ofsuitahle'screws 20. The reference character 21 indiciitesjas a whole myimproved ma neto, the details of the construction of which will bedescribed later. This magneto is Secured by means of screws 22 to thecover 18 in such a, manner as to close the opening 19 in the coverandthereby seal the compression chamber.

Referring to Ifig. 4, 11 improved magneto comprises a supporting member23, provided with a longitudinally:extending bore and having at one endthe inwardly-extending V flange 24 forminga thrust bearing. At the sameend the supportin member 23 is provided with an outwar ly-extendingflange 25 which is provided with counter-sunkbores 26 for receiving thescrews 22 whicl1 secure the magneto to the cover 18. The referencecharacter 27 indicates as a whole the body member of my improvedmagneto, which is provided with a stepped cylindrical extension, theportion 28 of which is of larger diameter than the portion 29. Theportion 29 of the cylindrical extension is journaled in the bore ofthesupporting member 23, and comprises a shoulder 30, which co-acts withthe thrust bearing. 24. A pair of oppositely-disposedscrews 31 arethreaded through the walls of the supporting member 23 and have theirinner ends reduced. as shown at 32. The reduced ends of these screwsproject through arcuai'e slots formed in the walls of the portion 29 ofthe cylindrical extension of the body member;

These screws )erform the function oi: holdingthe shoulder of the bodymember against the thrust bearing 2st of the supporting member, and alsoact as limiting etc as to limit the rotary movement of the boy memberrelative to the supporting member. The body member is held in any one ofits adjusted positions relative to the supporting member by means of theplunger 34, which is slidably mounted in a suitable bore in the wall ofthe portion 29 of the cylindrical extension, and its. outer rounded endis urged vinto any one of a plurality of depressions formed in thethrust bearing 24: by means of a spring 35. Only one of these depressions is illustrated, but it will be readily understood that thesedepressions are arranged on an arc of a circle having the axis of thecylindrical extension as its center.

The body member 27 is provided with a bore which in part forms acontinuation of the bore in the cylindrical extension and receives anarmature which is indicated as a whole by the reference character 36.This armature comprises-a disk-she ed end plate 37 whiclrhas formedintegra ly therewith and extending from one side'thereof the shaft 38.The shaft 3,8 is rotatably mounted in a pair of ballb'earin s 39 and 40respectively which are secure in spaced relation in the bore of theportion 29. ofthe cylindr qa xt nfi 2 I end f t jshaft: -3 pro ectsbeyondthe end of the supporting member d has s c red the an a m providedat ts freeend with a $lot14=1 for receiv ng the pin projecti from thefree. end otthe crank pin 15. y this connection it will beseen that: asthe [crank pin r a es. th -a matu e oi he, mag eto will be drivensubstantially in synohronism with the crank shaft of the engine. p I

h a m ure (furthe somp i esa ro bar 42formed.o f nectangularly shapedlaminations, the outer-,lazn inations 43, oi which r i ke t a he i n nam mtiqns, t es men a shap dlp le piesesia anos ti ne 9 0 p sts i es-htthe-sme t r 4 24AM the c o s er ndtheipelsiniwss tesemrcd t h ndplate-31h) mea sb fl eiserews 4 w h pass through suite ejhelestin the Pl n ec e owend oi h rectangu ar r ss pi ev li e. cro ea carri s twowindings, a primary "win 6 and; a ondary winding 41, these windings forthBgPl-IIP OSQ. ofclearness diagrammatirally illustratediin Fig- 4=,,One end 0fithe primary winding securedto-the inner end of the pivot pin48, ,upo 'whiqhggis pivoted the bell crank leveriil-iwi v, crank lever49 is provided with a contact 50 which co-acts with one end of thecontact screw 51, which is IQOHntedinthe-lugfiZfln plate 53. The plate53 is secured-to the-end plate 37- of the iarmatnreJby means of: thescrews 54, and is insulated from'the end plate by means of ldiesheetofinsulation and insulated fromlthe screws .54; by means of theinsulating'bushin s 56. The lug. 52 is slotted: as shown at 5 and thisslot is spannedrbywa screw-58 which when tightened actsto lock thecontact screw 51 in: its adjustedpositlon. The end of the bell cranklever- 49,'opposite the contact 50., is provided with: a fiber plug 59,which eo-acts with the' cam 60. to separate-the contact 50 from thecontact "screw 51 at the proper instant and to holdithese two contactsopened during slightly more than; onerha-lf a revolution of thearmature. A spring 61, one,

end of which is passed about the pin 48 and secured to the contact endof the lever 49. and the other end of which is secured to a stud 62formed into a1 with the end plate 37, tends to close 1: e contacts 50and .51..

From an inspection of Fig. 4 it will be seen that the cylindrical cam601s provided with an inwardly extending flange 63, the function ofwhich will be referred to later on. As stated above, one end of theprimary winding of the armature is connected with the pivot pin 48. Theother end of this winding, as shown in Fig. 4, extends through the endplate 37 and contacts with the plate 53, forming a part of theinterrupter mechanism. This terminal of the primary winding is, ofcourse, insulated from the end plate 37 in any suitable manner. Acondenser (not shown) is connected across the terminals of the primarywinding in the usual manner.

One end of the secondary winding is grounded upon the armature, asindicated at 64, and the other end is connected with a contact pin 65which is located centrally of the insulating cap 66, which is secured bymeans of screws to the end of the armature opposite the shaft 38. Thescrews which hold the cap to the armature enter into the screw-threadedopenings 67 in' the segmental pole pieces of the armature as shown inFig. 3. A cap 68 of insulating material is secured to the outer end ofthe body member by means of screws 69, which enter the openings 70 shownin Fig. 3. The cap 68 has embedded therein a binding post 71, to theinner end of which is secured a spiral contact 72 which contacts withthe contact pin 65 of the armature so as to receive current from thiscontact pin while the armature is in motion. The cap 68 is provided witha bore 73, which receives a terminal at the magneto end of the conductor74: (see Fig. 1), which is secured to the binding post 71 by means ofthe screw 7 The cap 68 also carries a pivot pin 76 upon which is pivotedthe grounding switch 77, as shown in Figs. 2 and a. The conducting strip78 connects the pin 76 with the body member. A permanent magnet 79 iscarried by the body member and disposed with its poles at opposite sidesof the armature. Soft iron pole pieces 80 are cast into the body member,and their inner faces are suitably conformed to the curvature of thearmature.

The portion 28 of the cylindrical extension of the body member isprovided with an arcuate-shaped opening 81, which per inits inspectionand adjustment of the interrupter mechanism. A sleeve 82, which slidesupon the portion 28 of the cylindrical extension, forms a closure forthe opening 81, but is provided with an arcuate opening 83, which can bebrought to register with the opening 81 so as to permit access to theinterrupter mechanism. The sleeve 82 is held in its closed position bymeans of a plunger 84, slidably mounted in the body member and urgedoutwardly by means of a spring 85. The outer end of the plunger 84 isrounded and projects into a hole 86 in the sleeve 82 to lock the sleeve82 to the body member. A groove 87, formed in the inner side of thesleeve 82, receives the outer end of the pin 84 when the sleeve 82 isrotated to bring the openings 81 and 83 into re ister.

rorn an inspection of F igs. 4 and 6 it will be seen that the bodymember is provided with a radially extending duct 88, which opens into alongitudinally extending groove 89 at the bottom side of the bodymember. This groove discharges through an opening 90 formed in the lowerside of the ring 82. The purpose of these openings and duct is to form apassage for draining away any oil which may escape from the spacebetween the ball bearings 39 and 40, and it will be noted that 'theflange 63 of the cam 60 provides a sort of barrier for causing any oilthat may escape through the bearings tO to flow into the opening 88. Oilis supplied to the space between the bearings 39 and 40 by removing oneof the screws 31.

The inner end of the tubular extension of the body member at the pointwhere it surrounds the inner end of the shaft 38 is provided with apacking ring 91, which is held in place by means of a split washer 92. Aconvex spring plate 93 surrounds the inner end of the shaft 38, andpacking ring 94 fills the space between the arm 40 and the spring plate93. The purpose of the packing ring 91 and 94 and the spring plate 93 isto provide an airtight seal for this end of the magneto. so thatcompression can be maintained in the crank case of the engine.

In operation the armature is rotated in synchronism with the crank shaftof the engine-by reason of the connection between its shaft and thecrank shaft. This means that two electrical impulses will be produced inthe primary winding of the armature during each rotation of the crankshaft. One of these impulses is suppressed, however, b reason of thefact that the cam 60 holds t e contacts 50 and 51 separated duringslightly more than one-half the period of rotation of the armature. Therelation of the cam and the circuit breaker is, however, 115 such thatthe interrupter contacts are opened at substantially the instant whenone of the electrical impulses at its maximum strength. The current inthe primary cir switch 7'? is open,that is, when this switch isdisconnected from the screw '75. In the position of the switch shown inFigs. 2 and t the secondary winding is short-circuited, and the enginewill not, therefore, operate with the switch in this position.

By rotating the body member and the permanent magnet therewith in onedirection relative to the supporting member, the spark will be advanced,and by rotating it in the opposite direction the spark will be retardedin a manner which will be apparent to those skilled in this art.

From the above description it will be clear that I have provided amagneto which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, andcontains no parts which are liehie to get out of order. Its arrangementrelative to the moving parts of the engine is such that it permits itvery simple driving connection between the piston of the engine and themagneto, and the mugneto can he removed from the engine as a unit simplyby removing the bolts which hold the cover 18 in position and liftingthe cover and the magneto thereof as a unitary structure.

'hiie I have described the details of the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it is to be understood that my invention is not limited tothese details but is capable of other adaptations and modificationswithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, whet I claim is:

1. The combination with a two oycle interns combustion engine comprisingcrank cnse serving as a compression chamher and havinga bearingextending from one side thereof. a crank shaft mounted in said hearing.a crank pin carried by said crank shaft, and a cover for the side ofsaid crank case opposite said hearing, the said cover being providedwith an opening. of e magneto comprising, a supporting member hav ng: abore extending therethrough, s body member rotatably mounted in saidsupporting member, on armature in said hodv member having a shaftjournaled in the said body member and extending through said opening,means for securing the supporting member of said cdrer so that saidarmature will be substantially coaxial. with said crank shaft, agenerating winding on said armature, (in erting: means on said armatureand said body member for inter ruptin r the circuit oi? said winding,the means on said body member being rotatable relative to the means ofsaid armature to time the interruption, a permanent magnet secured tosaid body member and rotatable therewith, with its poles disposed onopposite sides of said armature, an insulating cap secured to the end ofthe armature opposite said shaft, 21 second insulating cap closin theend of said body member, co-ncting re atively-movable contacts on saidcaps, on :Ll'lli secured to the end of said shaft extending through saidopening in the cover, co- :icting with said crank pin to rotate saidormature sheft, and means carried by the end of said shaft adjacent saidcover for sealing the magneto against the compression in said crankcase.

The combination with an internal combustion engine comprising a crankcase having a bearing extending from one side thereof, a crank shaftmounted in said bearing, a crank pin carried by said crank shaft, and a.cover for the side of said crank case .opposite said bearing, the saidcover being pro vided with an opening, of a magneto comprising asupporting member having a. bore extending therethrough, a body memberrotzitably mounted in said supporting member, an armature in said bodymember having a shaft journaled in the said body memher and extendingthrough said opening, means for securing the supporting member of saidcover so that said armature will be substantially co-axiztl with saidcrank shaft, in generating winding on said armature, c0- acting means onsaid armature and said body member for interrupting the circuit of saidwinding, a permanent magnet secured to said body member and rotatabletherewith, with its poles disposed on opposite sides of said armature,an insulating cap secured to the end of the armature opposite saidshaft, a second insulating cap closing the end of said body member,co-acting relatively-movable contacts on said caps, an arm secured tothe end of said shaft extending through said opening in the cover, andcoacting with said crank pin to rotate said ormeturc shaft.

3. The combination with an internal combustion engine comprising a.crank case how ing 2 bearing extending from one side thereof, a crankshaft mounted in said bearing, the side of said crank case opposite saidbearing being provided with an opening, a cover therefor, of a magnetocomprising a supporting member having a bore extending therethrough, abody member rotatably mounted in said supporting member, an an nurturein said body member having a shaft journnled in the said body member andextending through said opening, means for securing the supporting memberto said cover so that said armature will be substantially co-axial withsaid crank shaft, 3. generating winding on said armature, a permanentmagnet secured to said body member and rotatable therewith, with itspoles disposed on opposite sides of said armature, an insulating capsecured to the end of the armature opposite said shaft, a second insuleting cap closing the end of said body member, co-actingrelatively-movable contacts on said caps, and means for driving saidarmature shaft from said crank shaft 4. The combination with an internalcombustion engine comprising a crank case having a bearing on one sidethereof and a crank shaft journaled in said bearing, the other side ofsaid crank case being provided with an opening, of a magneto comprisinga supporting member having a bore therein, a body member rotatablymounted in said bore, an armature in said body member having a shaftextending from one end thereof and through the opening in said crankcase, the said shaft being journaled in said body member, a permanentmagnet having its poles disposed on opposite sides of said armature,means for driving said shaft from said crank shaft, and means forsecuring said supporting member to said crank case.

5. The combination with an internal combustion engine comprising a crankcase haw ing a bearing on one side thereof and a crank shaft journaledin said bearing, the other side of said crank case being provided withan opening, of a magneto comprising a supportin member having a boretherein, a body member rotatably mounted in said bore, an armature insaid body member having a shaft extending from one end thereof andthrough the opening in said crank case, the said shaft being journaledin said body member, a permanent magnet having its poles disposed onopposite sides of said armature, and means for driving said shaft fromsaid crank shaft.

6. The combination with an internal combustion engine comprising a crankcase hav ing a bearing extending from one side thereof, a crank shaftjournaled in said bearing, and a crank pin secured to said crank shaft,the side of said crank case opposite said bearing being provided with anopening, of a magneto comprising an armature shaft extending throughsaid opening and held substantially co-axial with said crank shaft, apin on said crank pin, and a slotted arm secured to said armature shaftwith the sides of said slot engaging said pin.

7. The combination with an internal combustion engine comprising a crankcase having a bearing extending from one side thereof, a crank shaftjournaled in said bearing, and crank pin secured to said crank shaft.the side of said crank case opposite said bearing being provided with anopening, of a magneto comprising an armature shaft extending throughsaid opening, a pin on said crank pin, and a slotted arm secured to saidarmature shaft with the sides of said slot engaging said pin.

8. A magneto comprising a supporting member having a bore therein, abody member having a hollow cylindrical extension journaled in saidbore, an armature in said body member having a shaft rotatably mountedin said hollow extension and projecting beyond said supporting member,primary and secondary windings on said armature, co-actine means on saidarmature and said body member for interrupting said primary winding, aninsulating cap on the end of said armature opposite said shaft, a secondinsulating cap secured to said body member adjacent said first-namedcap, a terminal on said second cap, co-acting contacts on said caps forconducting, the current from one end of said secondary winding to saidterminal, a permanent magnet secured to said body member and having itsnoles disposed on o posite sides of said armature. the said body membercomprising a cylindrical portion surrounding said interrupter means andhaving an arcuate opening therein, a rotatable sleeve closure for saidopening. means for preventing, said cylindrical extension from beingwithdrawn from said supporting member, and means for holding said bodymember in Various angular positions relative to said supporting member.

9. A magneto comprising a supporting member having a bore therein, abody member having a hollow cylindrical. extension iournaled in saidbore, an armature in said body member having a shaft rotatably mountedin said hollow extension, primary and secondary windings on saidarmature, eo-acting means on said armature and said body member forinterrupting said primary winding, an insulating cap on the end of saidarmature opposite said shaft, a second insulating cap secured to saidbody member adiacent said first-named can, a terminal on said secondcap, co-acting contacts on said cans for conducting the current from oneend of said secondary winding to said terminal, a permanent magnetsecured to said body member and having its poles disposed on oppositesides of said armature, and means for holdin said body member in variousangular positions relative to said so iortin 0 member. 10. Adynamo-electric machine comprislng an armature having an operating shaftextending from one end thereof, the said armature comprising a windinghaving one terminal grounded, an insulating cap secured to the other endof said armature, a contact connecting with the other end of saidwinding and secured in said cap, and a stationary contact co-acting withsaid firstnamed contact for receiving current therefrom.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 8th day ofNovember, 1918,

JOHN ROY STARK. Witnesses:

B. E. NnLsoN, P. G. Cnnwn.

